[Later that day]
The Sunset Trio and the two masked figures were riding towards the possible base of the slavers, where most of their ledgers are and where they are keeping their 'merchandise'.
The three mercenaries were feeling uncomfortable as they sometimes glanced back at the two people that they are 'escorting'.
Minara was resting on the seat of rickshaw that was pulled by Maid, with the servant not showing even the slightest sign of exhaustion even though she was managing to keep up with their etis. They had not spoken at all ever since the Maid took out the rickshaw from behind a cluster of trees, and Bianca could not take it anymore.
She was riding behind the rickshaw, which was going besides Alexander, and so she simply shouted out to both of the strange women.
-"So...your daughter was taken by slavers, huh?"
'Why the void did I say that...'
-"The young miss was taken while she was out playing, it is fortunate that she was wearing her mask at the time."
'Is her having her mask on the thing that is important right now or that a child was kidnapped???'
-"Is that so, well you don't have to worry, we will be rescuing her along with all of the other slaves. Could you tell us a bit about her?"
'That silver haired woman is very quiet for some reason... Maybe talking about her daughter will get her to open up? Or maybe she is so nervous about her child's safety that she can't talk... Now I am starting to feel bad.'
-"The young miss is five years old, has black, silky hair and always wears a melos-purple dress."
-"Oh she sounds lovely, I am sure that she is very cute."
There was a slight moment of silence before Maid spoke once more.
-"The Master calls her 'the cutest daughter in the world', so yes, she is very cute."
-"Is that your husband?"
This time, Bianca decided to address the mysterious woman directly, and only then did she get a slight response, which was a nod.
'Are they fighting or something? I am starting to pity this woman, what with a kidnapped daughter and now, an absent husband.'
-"Indeed, he is Mistress' husband but due to some personal problems, he isn't accompanying us. You three are pretty lucky to have stumbled upon a Monster."
The mention of the word 'Monster' caused the four of them to flinch, albeit for different reasons.
Alexander decided to speak up, not wanting to risk letting his cohort possibly displease the 'mercenary' woman that was currently peacefully resting in a rickshaw.
-"Y-yes, we are immensely grateful for your help during our time of need. If I may be so bold to ask, how did you manage to drive away the foul creature?"
Vladimir tightened his grip on the reins of his etus and glanced back at Alexander, which the dwarf took as a sign that he was overstepping his bounds.
Maid, however, replied quickly as soon as she noticed Alexander look in front in order to meet the pale rogue's gaze.
-"It ran away once it noticed our presence, it seems that it's only strengths were illusions, and so once it found out that they don't work on us, it fled. Shortly after I healed the three of you and then got my payment from your money pouches."
'''So that's why I felt it was lighter...'''
"It must have been ghastly, to meet a creature that would make you do such a disgusting thing like eating the flesh and blood of a living being."
The three mercenaries all flinched and Bianca started shivering as she remembered how she acted the night prior.
"Oh, I apologize for making you remember such horrible things, I admit that it was in poor taste."
Alexander was starting to think that the servant girl was having a bit too much fun, imagining a wide grin plastered over her face under that mask.
-"I must say that your masks are very impressive, I envy the skills of the craftsman that was able to make such artifacts"
-"It is my husband that made them, actually."
The group went silent as they heard Minara's voice for the second time that day. Vladimir shivered while Bianca and Alexander felt uncomfortable. After getting so used to her being silent, suddenly hearing her voice was like getting splashed with ice cold water after taking a hot bath.
Vladimir spoke up, wanting to learn more about Minara's 'husband'.
-"I am surprised that I haven't heard of your husband, considering that his skills are so good that he can craft such beautiful masks."
-'What's with these two fools and their way of talking? First Bianca asks a mother about her daughter that was kidnapped by slavers, and now this guy is calling her husband's skill into question?'
Alexander was starting to think that his colleague are incredibly talented at 'courting death' while he silently prayed to Pamit, desperately begging to not get killed by an angry noble woman today.
Maid started to talk once more while Minara continued resting, sometimes looking into the distance.
-"Master does not wish to garner attention by showcasing his skills, and so he likes to remain relatively unknown. I am sure that you can relate, considering the nature of your jobs. Being well-known isn't always good."
Alexander nodded and then added.
-"That is true, and I greatly respect a craftsman that doesn't wish to make a spectacle of himself. Too many skilled craftsmen rely on their popularity and reputation, leading to their creations to worsen over time, when they should let their creations to speak for themselves."
-'Laying it on a bit thick, don't you think?'
Bianca was thinking that Alexander was complimenting the strange woman's smile a bit too much, but she decided to not comment on it since she had already caught on that her behavior wasn't appropriate when talking with a 'noble woman'.
There was a soft chuckle that came from inside the rickshaw. The etis nearly stopped and Bianca could hear her heartbeat get faster as she heard Minara's chuckle.
The distortion made by the mask made it sound unsettling but parts of the real voice seeped through, making it sound like a mosaic of sounds.
It was deep and squeaky, male and female, gravely and smooth. Different textured sounds mixed into a chuckle that lasted barely a few moments but caused great discomfort. It was akin to hearing the sound of rain while in deep space or seeing the entire ocean on fire.
Maid did not react and instead spoke up, breaking the trance in which the mercenaries were stuck in.
-"Mistress thanks you for the compliment but also wants to tell you that the Master isn't much of a 'craftsman'. I also wish to inform you that it is time for her to sleep so, unless it is urgent, please do not speak loudly until nightfall."
Minara then covered her rickshaw with a thick, silver veil as she 'fell asleep', even though for the other member's of the cohort, she looked the same as ever due to her mask and cloak.
They continued to travel in silence for several more hours, passing by a village or two, with the quantity of village's slowly decreasing as they got further away from the capital due to the distance needed to reach these villages in case they ever need help from the larger settlements.
Once they started approaching a small forest which was bound to have some dry branches and small game, and since the suns were slowly setting, they slowly went inside.
The Sunset Trio were feeling extremely uncomfortable the moment they got near the forest and until they fell asleep, they did not bother to eat anything, with some of them even audibly gagging if they saw a piece of dried meat or anything red in color.
Once the camp was set up, after Maid had told them that it was alright to make a campfire, the veil of the rickshaw was pushed aside as Minara slowly walked out and then sat down on large log that was prepared by Maid.
The brown haired, masked figure brought out a kettle filled with water which she then slowly sat down on a metal stand. She put one of her hands on the kettle and then put her other hand in the air as she slowly started chanting a Water spell.
-"Oh great Spirits of water
Hear my plea
I wish to steal the warmth of the air and place it into this container
I wish to be protected from heat and cold
In exchange I give to you my mana and my sincere thanks."
Her hands then started to emit a glow invisible to the eye of the common human and so, the heat from the space near her hand in the air went through her body and slowly went into the kettle, bringing the water to a boil while also rapidly decreasing the temperature of her environment.
Once the kettle was warmed to a satisfactory level, Maid slowly took her hand away and the glow that surrounded her hands, arms and chest disappeared.
As the mercenaries watched on, Bianca glanced at the servant and then at her leader with a curios glance. She had seen mages cast spells before but since she was used to hearing Alexander's chants, she got curios now that she heard Maid's chant.
-"How come the chants used by mages are so different from mage to mage? I would expect them to be like sword techniques, more uniform."
Alexander wasn't expecting to hear such a question when near another mage, but he decided to give his explanation since the brown haired woman was currently tending to her Mistress.
-"Chants are simply a mage asking for the help of a Spirit in order to cast a spell. It isn't like ritualistic magic, where specific chants need to be recited or summoning spells which require careful wording in order to call out to a specific being.
And so, since people see Spirits differently, their chants are also different. For me, the Spirits of Earth and Fire are my ancestors, but for others, they are simply invisible beings which help you for a price."
-"How come you don't always say that you offer mana in exchange then?"
Alexander let out a small chuckle and then responded in a slightly cheeky tone.
-"Perks of being the descendant of a Spirit. We dwarves have the spirits of Earth, Fire and Metal; Elves have the spirits of Wind, Life and Death; And Amphitrians and Reptons have the spirits of Water, Sleep and...some other third one."
Bianca was starting to get interested while Vladimir was looking around, making sure that there was no one secretly watching them.
-"What about humans? Are we the descendants of any spirits?"
Alexander immediately starting laughing loudly but then stopped himself as he remembered that he didn't know the species of the ones they were escorting.
-"Cough No, to my knowledge, you are not. Some say that you are the descendants of the spirits of Time or from an Emotion Spirit, but if you were to ask me? You all came out of Teacher Campbell's head."
Bianca had a frustrated look on her face and then turned to Vladimir, expecting to get some back up from a fellow human.
-"What about you Vlad? What Spirits do you think we are the descendants of?"
-"None. I do not think that any of the ruling species are the actual descendants of spirits and instead, the spirits are either just humoring you or our ancestors did them some favors way back and so, they are simply paying us back with 'small things'."
Alexander immediately let out a derisive snort and waved away the pale rogue's theory.
-"Bah, now that is ridiculous. I am willing to bet that you are simply jealous of a spirit kin like myself and so you simply came up with a ridiculous theory in order to feel better about yourself."
-"You are reacting pretty strongly for someone that thinks that it is simply a ridiculous theory."
-"Because it is a ridiculous theory you half-assed northerner."
Bianca let out a loud laugh while Vladimir started talking about how he had a perfectly normal ass, all while Minara enjoyed her cup of tea, and when she saw her maid's fingers twitch slightly, she gave her a light nod and allowed her to converse with the Sunset Trio.
The three mercenaries stopped bickering and joking around once they noticed the brown haired woman slowly approach them but as they saw her simply sat down among them, they decided to talk with her, deciding that it was safe to talk casually with a noble's servant.
Vladimir was the first one to talk, slightly bowing his head towards the masked woman as he talked with her.
-"I want to thank you for healing us once more and for leaving some of my scars. I do not know if it was intentional, but it meant a lot to me."
Both Bianca and Alexander nodded, showing that they felt the same, all while Maid gave them a nod.
-"You are welcome, but it was indeed intentional. I heard before that scars can have sentimental value, and so I did not think it would have been appropriate for me to remove them, although I did remove some by accident."
-"You don't have to feel bad, if anything you did me a favor. Some of those scars weren't exactly in the best of places, you know?"
Maid nodded at Bianca's response and then looked back at Vladimir, with the pale man feeling slightly uncomfortable as he looked into the metallic, reflective mask.
-"Could you tell me how you gained the scar on your temple? If it isn't an uncomfortable topic, of course."
The mood of the Sunset Trio soured a bit but Vladimir still nodded, deciding to tell the story of how the disappearance of one of their past members, Mirelle.
[After the story was over.]
-"And so, after Detective Taylor told us about what most likely happened, we had to give up. It wasn't our proudest moment, but it is something that taught us something important."
-"And what could that be?"
-"That we have to raise our influence, to not be just a small group of unknown mercenaries, that we need renown, fame, a reputation. All so that we won't have to worry about a High Noble suddenly killing or taking one of our members and then not being able to do something about it."
The brown haired maid nodded and then looked back at her Mistress, and after seeing that her cup was empty, she quickly went to refill it.
[A few hours later]
It was now deep into the night, and after managing to sleep for a few hours, Vladimir was now awake and taking watch. He did not look too exhausted or sleep deprived and his eyes of a hunter allowed him to see more clearly in the dark.
In the slight distance, he saw the Minara, the white haired, masked woman that terrified him, and just as he was about to look for her servant, he heard an all to familiar voice from behind him.
-"Please do not make any sudden moves."
It was the voice of Mirelle.
He felt a sharp object poking him in the back, around where his heart was, and immediately his pulse quickened and his eyes remained fixed upon the figure of Minara, who seemed to be sitting on a fallen tree and just looking around.
-"I...I thought you were kidnapped, Mirelle...How did yo-"
-"Please stop pretending like you are surprised, Vladimir, you are insulting my intelligence. I deliberately made it so that my scent could be picked up by you."
Vladimir went silent for a few moments and his previously saddened and slightly panicked voice was replaced with a calm one.
-"Did you kill the other two?"
-"No, they are simply asleep. Will you try to attack me now?"
-"Do you think that you are capable of stopping me if I were to do so? Your 'Mistress' is quite far away."
-"I can hear your heartbeat, you know? And I know that it isn't from excitement. You are afraid, Vladimir."
The rogue of the mercenary cohort went silent, his heart still beating rapidly while his eyes remained fixed upon the figure of Minara, his pupils slightly trembling.
-"Why would I be afraid of a pampered noble woman that is playing 'pretend mercenary'?"
-"Because you saw us last night."
Vladimir immediately tensed up, starting to feel less confident in himself than before, but his tone still remained slightly arrogant.
-"I don't know what you are talking abo-"
-"I know that you are a vampire, Vlad. Did you think I was talking like that on the road because I wanted to make the other two feel bad? I saw you flinch when I said those words.
'to meet a creature that would make you do such a disgusting thing like eating the flesh and blood of a living being.'
Did you take offense to me calling you disgusting?"
Vladimir's started clenching his jaw and fists tightly, trying to keep himself calm.
-"Do you think that a small insult like that would make me lose my calm? You have become arrogant ever since you became a 'pet'. How did it feel to drag a rickshaw like an estu?"
There were a few moments of silence during which Vladimir thought that Mirelle was trying to not lose her cool, but instead of an angry remark or a threat, he instead heard something far more humiliating.
The sound of Mirelle failing to hold in her laughter.
"And what exactly do you find so funny?"
-"I apologize, I just did not expect the bastard son of the Báthory to be so bad at insulting others."
Just as Vladimir was about to pounce on Mirelle, he felt the blinding hot prick of a pure silver blade against his back, making him almost grunt in pain if it were not for Mirelle's hand covering his mouth.
"Did I touch a nerve there? I apologize, it must hurt a lot to learn that a 'mere human girl' knows about your juicy little secret. You must be filled to the brim with embarrassment and humiliation."
Vladimir held himself back from biting the hand covering his mouth and instead slowly moved it away, making sure to not make any sudden moves.
-"How did you find out?"
-"Much like how I found out that you did not actually lose track of me back then."
-"...Look, I didn't mean to-"
-"Save the fake excuses for later, I know that you were scared shitless by what you saw that night. It must have been terrifying, seeing an unknown creature for the first time in many decades, or maybe centuries of your life.
Don't worry, you'll get to see the young miss soon enough."
Vladimir started trembling, and up ahead, he could now see Minara slowly sit up and start walking towards the both of them.
-"Y-you d-don't mean...So when that Monster was calling her-"
The vampire let out yet another gasp of pain as he felt the silver blade go deeper into his flesh, causing it to sizzle.
-"Please refrain from using that term when addressing Mistress' children, especially since she can hear you clearly."
Vladimir Báthory looked in the distance once more and saw that Minara's distant figure had disappeared, but just as he realized that, he felt the silver blade get away from his back and then he could lightly sense Mirelle bowing to something besides him.
He slowly turned around and saw the Mother of Melissa standing besides him, with the reflective, metallic mask reflecting Vladimir perfectly, something that should not be possible. This being what made him uncomfortable back when they were talking, a few hours ago.
-"Greetings, my name is Minara. I am the proud mother of Melissa and her siblings, the loving wife of Neiro, and the Mistress of Mirelle.
You are Vladimir Báthory, an exiled member of the Báthory clan's branch on Midor."
The voice was still distorted but he could feel that she did not feel anything when she talked about him or his clan even though she clearly knew too much for a supposed 'noble lady'.
"Now that we are properly introduced...Shall we talk? I am sure that we have much to discuss."
[A few minutes later]
Vladimir Báthory was currently seated on a finely carved wooden chair, looking at a cup of fragrant tea that smelled like a mix of lemon and raspberry. His face and back were covered in droplets of cold sweat and his hands were shaky.
Standing in front of him was a seated figure and a standing one. The standing figure was Mirelle, looking the same as she did almost five years ago, dressed in a black dress with slight white accents. It was a very conservative dress that did not reveal much, if any skin besides her hands, which were covered by a pair of silken gloves.
She was standing behind the seated figure, with her hands clasped around her waist and a big, happy smile plastered over her face as she watched him squirm.
Meanwhile, the being responsible for his great fear was the one seated in front of him, Minara.
Much like Mirelle, she had taken off her mask and cloak and revealed her true appearance. She had a pair of sharp, light orange, fox eyes with long eyelashes. Her face was not overtly beautiful or mesmerizing so if one were to exclude her more fantastical eyes and hair, she would look like a normal, slightly attractive woman in her mid to late 20s.
Her figure was more impressive than Mirelle's but it wasn't exaggerated. Her waist wasn't so thin that one could encircle it with their hands. It was simply normal.
-"You must learn some manners, young man. People know when they are getting ogled at."
Vladimir immediately bowed his head so deeply that he almost headbutted the table but before he could accidentally do that, he found himself unable to move, and then his posture was slowly returned back to normal.
He heard a soft sigh come out of Minara's mouth and then felt himself and his chair being moved away by a few centimeters, but before he could ask why, he heard something come out of the ground.
He looked towards what might have caused the strange sound and then saw an outline of a man made out of several silver needles standing right where he was just a few moments ago. After a few moments, the outline went back into the ground.
-"For someone that doesn't want to be here with me, he sure is jealous, isn't he?"
-"Master only wishes to grow up along with his family Mistress, plus I think this was more of a playful gesture."
-"True, plus he knows I can take care of myself."
Vladimir was currently trying to think of a way to get out of his current situation alive, but he did not have many options.
-'Swear eternal servitude? She has her 'children'. Reveal some of the clan's secrets? I will die from the Oath or get killed shortly after.'
Before he could think of something else however, he was standing back where he once stood, with the cup of tea in front of him still letting out wisps of steam.
-"I don't really care much about your clan's plans for this continent so long as you do not target the Aurora Empire. I am not saying this out of patriotism but because we do not really care that much about what is going on outside the Empire for now.
I am curios about one thing though...How did your clan manage to infiltrate Midor without any of the deities noticing?"
-"B-before I answer...Could you please tell me how you managed to find out my real identity? I made sure to not leave any signs for at least a century."
-"Hm? Oh I suppose I can do that. When you were scared off by little Meli a few years ago you intentionally injured yourself by using the horn of a letos, you didn't bother to take all of your blood with you.
People can find a lot about you with just a small drop of blood, you know?"
-"B-but I lost my connection to my blood when it was fully absorbed into the ground and then into the plants! I did not detect anything before that!"
-"My husband just asked the forest to give him the drops. He offered to give it some fertilizer in return and it happily accepted."
The vampire was starting to feel like he was getting pranked. All of his countless years of planning, of blending in as a regular human...ruined by just a few droplets of blood?
-"...a member of our clan summoned someone from a different world to Midor and gifted them our bloodline, which led to more members with the Báthory bloodline to be born in Midor and thus be seen as inhabitants of the realm instead of 'Demons', and in order to blend in, we decided to live in the northern region of the Aurora Empire, where our pale skin won't be suspected."
-"And your lack of a weakness to sunslight is due to your nature as a dhampir?"
Vladimir nodded his head while trying to hide the feeling of shame deep within him. At first he thought that this Minara was a high ranking member of the clan or a different clan who discovered him and wanted to reprimand or kill him.
He thought that her 'child' was simply her thrall, but apparently, it was even worse, and now his life was in the palm of her hand.
"Hm, do you plan to kill, enthrall or turn the other members of the Sunset Trio? Which I now find is a rather ironic name considering your circumstances."
-"No, I was simply planning to become a high ranking mercenary, get a title of knight or higher and then make my 'descendants' slowly climb the ranks of nobility. We have already plenty of our members within the North and so I was chosen among many other members to infiltrate the central region and then slowly conquer the whole Empire."
-"Are you planning to destroy or feed on entire villages?"
Vladimir was starting to feel confused by the questions but he decided to keep answering honestly, not wanting to get tortured just for some information.
-"No, we do not plan to openly reveal ourselves at all and instead continue to rule within the shadows."
There were a few moments of silence, during which Vladimir readied himself to get killed, but instead of that he simply heard Minara casually say:
-"Very well, carry on with your plans. Now get some sleep, I wish to meet my daughter quickly."
Minara then slowly got up and put her hand on the wooden chairs and tables, changing their shapes back to those of regular trees, shortly after she then put on her cloak and mask back on and then went inside the rickshaw.
Vladimir was now standing on his ass, getting stared down by Mirelle, and after a few moments, she left as well, putting her mask and cloak back on as well.
-"What just happened?"
[A few days later, several hundred meters away from the base of operations of the slavers.]
The Sunset Trio, along with Minara and Mirelle, were currently staring at the plumes of smoke coming from the distance, straight from the well fortified base of the slavers that was hidden away in what was once a thick forest.
The tall wooden walls of the base were either toppled, sliced apart or burned down and where there were once slavers, several children and dwarves were now either playing around or killing the slavers that had remained alive.
Vladimir could clearly see what was happening even from such a distance, and so he saw the figure of a masked, five year old little girl that was wearing a melos-purple dress, sitting on a makeshift throne over a pile of corpses.
'What the void just happened?'